A Time to Harvest - Chapter Five

You trudge off across the muddy fields as you talk, barely hearing each other over the noise of the storm. Taffy pulls out his flashlight as everything is pitch black, save the occasional flash of lightning, but it doesn't work. Perhaps the dunk in the water damaged it.

The first farm you come across looks as if it has been crushed beneath the fist of some angry god. Nothing but debris litters the ground.

Ignoring the destruction and the possibilities of survivors, you push on through the storm.

Some fifteen minutes later....

Taffy and Mathis both hear a series of gunshots ring out over the storm. You can just about make out another farmhouse, up ahead, this one intact.

Following the sounds, you are lead to a strange scene. On the porch of an intact farmhouse stands a weary looking farmer. Beside him is a large boy of not more than twelve.The boy is cradling a shotgun as he takes a quick swallow from a jug. The farmer is clumsily reloading a smoking rifle and yelling obscenities into the night. Immediately in front of the farmer's house lie the bodies of four children of various age and gender. About fifty yards from the front porch, three kids dance and chant around a cow that has had its legs tied together and tipped over. A fourth child makes intricate cuts upon the cow's body while chanting under her breath.